Today can be marked as the last day of the "Windows Mobile" device brand as Microsoft has announced the availability of Windows Phones worldwide at an exclusive event in NYC hosted by Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division. The devices announced today ship with Windows Mobile 6.5, which has been a long time coming.

So what is a "Windows Phone" one might ask? "Our lives increasingly have become this complex mash-up of our professional and personal worlds, so we need a better way to connect to the people we care about and an easier way to connect to the information that matters to us," Bach said during his welcome at the Open House.

Additional features of the My Phone service is a set of "lost phone" features that are currently free of charge until November 30th, and for $4.99 after. This package allows users to immediately locate the phone's current location on a map (U.S. only), remotely lock a phone, post an "if found" message to its screen, loudly ring the phone even if it's set to vibrate or silent mode, or to remotely completely erase the phone's content.

Here's a list of Windows phone available today or in the coming weeks (country and carrier):

Update: Attendees at today's event in NYC also got a sneak peak and hands-on experience with the Bing for Mobile application coming this fall. First impressions: Elegant UI, very quick search results, and relevant search results. Check it out: